Stochastic finite element method for random harmonic analysis of composite plates with uncertain modal damping parameters

Damping parameters of fiber-reinforced composite possess significant uncertainty due to the structural complexity of such materials. Considering the parameters as random variables, this paper uses the generalized polynomial chaos (gPC) expansion to capture the uncertainty in the damping and frequency response function of composite plate structures. A spectral stochastic finite element formulation for damped vibration analysis of laminate plates is employed. Experimental modal data for samples of plates is used to identify and realize the range and probability distributions of uncertain damping parameters. The constructed gPC expansions for the uncertain parameters are used as inputs to a deterministic finite element model to realize random frequency responses on a few numbers of collocation points generated in random space. The realizations then are employed to estimate the unknown deterministic functions of the gPC expansion approximating the responses. Employing modal superposition method to solve harmonic analysis problem yields an efficient sparse gPC expansion representing the responses. The results show while the responses are influenced by the damping uncertainties at the mid and high frequency ranges, the impact in low frequency modes can be safely ignored. Utilizing a few random collocation points, the method indicates also a very good agreement compared to the sampling-based Monte Carlo simulations with large number of realizations. As the deterministic finite element model serves as black-box solver, the procedure can be efficiently adopted to complex structural systems with uncertain parameters in terms of computational time.